Saturday, October 8, 2011

Thanks to a sweet relative I became the recipient of these fantastic new popover trays. So, of course, the first order of business was to fill them and try them out. But....not to try just any "ole" recipe, I went searching for a special recipe. Last Christmas Rick and I went on our annual San Francisco trip and we ate at Tyler Florence's Wayfarer Tavern. Well, their bread of choice is fresh popovers! They were so delicious that I knew I had to try them first. Eureka! I found the recipe on another blogger's site. Thank you for sharing.

Now, the preparation experience was quite a funny site. The recipe is for 12 popovers which was what I had the pans for; however, the recipe must be prepared in a commercial blender because there is no home blender that can accommodate ﻿6 eggs, 3 1/2 cups of milk and 4 cups of flour!!! But, be not dismayed, we did prevail and the end result was 'over the top'!

Popovers will definately become a household choice for many menus from savory to sweet to buttery plain.

Along with popovers, it's time to crank up the fire and let the soups and stews begin. The first stew of the season which I made this week was Giada's Butternut Squash and Beef Stew. (This recipe can be found at the foodnetwork site) This was very tasty and a little change from the typical beef, potato and carrot type stew. This was done totally on the stove and was rather quick to prepare. An easy trick in cutting the butternut squash is to use a vegetable peeler and remove the skin, then just cut it in chunk, remove the seeds and it is ready for the pot. I even used tapioca flour to dust the meat with and if you are gluten intolerant then be sure to use tapioca flour as it is gluten free.

In our attempt to prepare a quick and easy dinner and low calorie to go with our popovers, we choose to whip up some Basque soup. So good, easy and quick. Depending on how many you want to serve, you will need to multiply the ingredients, but all you need is chicken broth, cabbage, leeks, carrots, garlic, tomato sauce and beans to add at the end. Some people like to also serve a salsa of their choice.